FWIW, I had been in the market for upgrading my self defense rifles after the 2008-9 shortages etc. until this year Considered buying a Mini 14 because I like the looks, Ruger has by most accounts dramatically improved its accuracy, and it resembles most of my other bolt action rifles. Fits me well and is pretty to me.
Regarding AR's, I was not impressed with them when I used them in the AF. We used the .22 conversion kits for qualifying in basic and they were absolutely junk when combined with old wore out rifles. During annual qualifying, we used twenty year old Vietnam era rifles that also did not give a great impression. To make matters worse, I swear that it seemed like most of those rifles were dirty from the Training (MTU) folks shooting them before us because they knew that we would have to clean them after our shooting as well. We spent about as much time cleaning those AR's as we did shooting on qualification day. To my mind, AR's were dirty, messy, and had all of the aesthetic charm of a plastic squirtgun. Needless to say, the only pleasant thing that I liked was the light recoil and that it fit my small hands for operation.
Never really considered the AK's as its ergonomics as issued frankly are not as good as the AR as far as controls and its accuracy is generally worse than a Mini-14. The cheaply priced ones were gone by the time that I was interested in self defense auto rifles so that was a wash. Given I already had a SKS that has pretty good ergonomics and has equal reliability with more accuracy than an AK--no reason to get one. I am also used to clip loaded magazines given my military surplus bolt action rifles use that type of loading system.
I decided to purchase this year because I have developed pretty severe medical issues involving hands and arms that meant that using shotguns for self defense is less of an option. Prices had also fallen tremendously.
Guess what, I bought one AR and built another this year. Why the AR over the Mini, one is cost--my built AR was about $450 and my purchased one about $600. But, the magazines for the AR were and are much cheaper than the Ruger magazines. I can buy about three AR mags for every one Mini 14 Mag. Accessories such as iron sights and stock choices are much cheaper for the AR and available everywhere. The accuracy on my AR's is in the 1.5-2 inch range which is as good if not slightly more accurate than the Mini. I can also acquire multiple uppers in different calibers, spare parts, etc. without worrying about major gunsmithing etc. that would be required to alter a Mini 14. Right now, the AR platform offers me the most choices, most value, and accuracy about as good as it gets for non-accurized semi-automatics.
But, in the future, I still might acquire a Mini-14 especially in the new Blackout format as the Mini platform appeals to me on a basic level as resembling the grand old US military rifles such as the Garand. Also I will probably acquire a garden variety AK just for plinking fun some day with cheap steel cased ammo and to become familiar with that type of system just in case. As usual, YMMV.
